Team BMW’s Colin Turkington is looking forward to a ‘great atmosphere’ in the British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill this weekend, with a strong Northern Irish contingent usually present in Scotland.
Turkington closed the gap to the top of the drivers’ championship standings to just two points last time out at Snetterton, with another two podium finishes taking his tally to seven for the season.
Being just two points shy of Honda’s Gordon Shedden, Turkington heads north of the border in a confident mood, having previously stood on the podium nine times at Knockhill, including taking a double win in the 1-Series BMW in 2013.
“I’m looking forward to Scotland and aiming to continue to fight for the championship,” said Turkington. “Snetterton gave us good points and more than halved my gap to the top of the points table, while Knockhill is a track where I’ve been on the podium nine times and had a double win.
“It’s also the event where we tend to see the highest number of fans from Northern Ireland, which always creates a great atmosphere for me.
“It’s traditionally been a good track for the BMWs, but the way we’ve performed across the season so far shows that we can win anywhere as long as we maximise our opportunities.”
WSR have a strong record at the Scottish circuit, having had a driver on the second step of the podium in all three races in 2016, and Team Principal Dick Bennetts pointed to the form book as a reason to be optimistic.
“Knockhill has traditionally been one of our strongest circuits and the WSR-designed-and-built BMW 125i M Sport has been on the podium 11 times in 12 races there,” said Bennetts.
“Of course, history won’t help us this weekend, but we can use the experience gained with those results to help us maximise every opportunity that comes our way.”